Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I confess I went to bed at 11:01 or possibly even 11:02 last night. That's how seriously I'm taking this. It won't happen again. I'm learning that an important part of my get-ready-for-bed routine is getting Christina ready for bed. Turns out she likes to eat before going down for a nice all-night sleep. (Yes, she does sleep ALL night. We're talking from 11-7:30. I know I am so spoiled).

Two nights ago, I was proudly swaddling my full-tummied baby at 10:55pm and was about to set her down in her crib when...you guessed it...SPIT UP!!! And not a little. She needed a full outfit and blanket change. I enlisted Matt's help to get Tina to bed so that I could rush to brush my teeth, change and say my prayers and still hop into bed w/ lights out before 11:01. Matt is awesome. Of course, right after he got her changed and re-swaddled, she decided it was time for a diaper change, too.

Last night I was one or two minutes late because we started "Chuck" a little too late. (My new favorite Neflix addiction). Humor+Action+Plot+Romance+More Humor=Blissfully happy Cam

So I'm learning already. The things that are making it difficult to make it to bed before 11:00 are also the things that were surprising me (every night) and causing me to go to bed at 12:30 or 1:00 instead of a reasonable 12:00 like I'd planned.

Lessons so far:
Feed baby at least 30 minutes before I want to go to bed
Allow myself 10 minutes to brush teeth, get changed, say prayers, etc.
If we're going to watch a show, watch it early in the evening
Basically start getting ready 45 minutes before target bed time. Oh boy.

She looks so innocent

Side note: Lilly has been giving herself a new name every few days. It's always a name from/based off of a book or movie that she likes. She refuses to respond to Lilly (I don't think she's responded to Lilly for about a week now) and instead informs us that her name is _____ not Lilly. I figure, for fun, I'll document her names on this blog.

These are not Lilly and Christina

Past names
-Big Wish Bear
-Mike
-Jake
-Little baby Lorax

She is currently: Tender Heart.

Matt, Christina and I have also been receiving new names every few days.

I'm happy to report that I made it to bed by 11:00. I'm a little less happy to report that minutes after I went to bed, Matt came in with Christina (my baby, not my sister...that would be REALLY weird) and she cried for milk. So, I didn't have time to fall asleep before I got back up, but what can you do when you're a mommy? Tonight I'll try to make sure Tina's fed before I go to bed.

After taking care of Tina, I went to bed with excited dreams of working out, reading my scriptures, and cleaning the house, all before anyone else woke up.

When my alarm went off at 6:30 I didn't want to work out. Imagine that. So I took a nice warm shower/bath and started the day in a less-jarring way. (Baby steps). Once I warmed up to the idea of morning, I called our friendly neighborhood job center to clear up a problem with our application for child care tuition assistance (Lilly's was set to end 6 months earlier than it should). Turns out without the county's help, I lose money by working. Thank you, government. I will pay you back when I'm rich.

That was a mini-tangent.

Also, LOOK! I magically know how to do a french braid now that I'm a mom! Cool. :)

If you are trying to do this Perfect Month along with me, comment and stay accountable. I'd love to hear how it's going for you!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

I'm back! And I'm announcing a new Perfect Month, starting tonight. (In 17 minutes, actually). Now, I know what you're thinking, but I REALLY REALLY AM gonna do it this time. This month has been in the beta testing phase for two weeks already so it's all set and ready to go live.

With that, I need to get going because my new Perfect Month is:

Early to bed and early to rise!!! (I tried this one before, didn't I? I think I posted my favorite Youtube video on the topic and got a complaint from my good pal Jeni. True? Dig through the archives).

Babies have already done this to me, so no problem.

The rules? In bed, prayers said, lights off by 11pm. Out of bed at 6:30am. It's that simple. I need to seriously hurry now, if I don't want to blow it on day one.